KQED, San Francisco’s powerhouse public broadcaster, has a number of quality programs produced for the TV side and the Radio Side.  That being said, I think few can touch the greatness that is Forum.  It’s a two-hour show every weekday, split into two single hour shows.  They’re always one of the best resources for California and local Bay Area politics, news, and culture.  And they occasionally have some really interesting stories totally unrelated to anything local at all, like this 60th Anniversary Special for India or this program on Zimbabwe. 

But, more relevant to this website is their terrific, in-depth coverage of California politics.  They usually get good guests to discuss really interesting topics.  This week they’ve discussed the budget and today, the Dirty Tricks Initiative. You can subscribe as a podcast or listen to individual episodes at their archive.

P.S. I don’t mean to gripe too much, but what’s the deal with inviting Jon Fleischman to the budget program? If you’re going to invite bloggers on, at least invite a lefty as well (maybe Frank Russo or hey there’s a whole stable of us here at Calitics that would love to go toe to intellectual toe with “Flash”. And how come nobody mentioned the fact that Peter Ragone is into socks?

KQED’s Forum is currently airing a legislative round-up with John Myers and Dan Walters along with some other people.  You can listen live on the web, or go to their audio archive after the program concludes at 10AM.

UPDATE: I also need to point out Dan Walters ignorance on global warming issue.  After labelling Al Gore’s move “Inconvenient Propaganda”, he goes on to say that there isn’t enough evidence, calling himself an “agnostic” on the issue.  Well, Dan, perhaps you just haven’t read enough on the subject.  If you claim to be an opinion journalist, you should at least provide an informed opinion.  Dan, the thousands of peer-reviewed scientific articles (and even the great environmentalist Arnold Schwarzenegger) have come to a conclusion.  That you have not does not make you superior, or moderate, or what not.  It just makes you ignorant.